The present invention relates generally to improvements in cleaning devices and it relates particularly to an improved apparatus for skimming the surface of a liquid to remove solid or foreign liquid materials floating on the liquid surface.
The skimming apparatus in a swimming pool is generally part of the filtration system and conventionally consists of an opening at the upper edge of the pool in the area of the filtration system intake. This opening is approximately 15 to 20 inches wide. Behind the opening is a circular receiver well connected to the suction end of a pump. Because this receiving well gets the water flow from only one side through the aforesaid opening, the column of water entering this opening must be several inches high to eliminate air getting sucked into the pump, the stronger the pump, the higher the water column must be. This results in a very inefficient skimming of the pool and, if the water level is too high, the skimming efficiency drops even further and may reach zero if the water level is higher than the ceiling of the aforesaid opening. Moreover, these filter pumps are very costly to operate.
Thus, not only are the conventional pool skimming systems highly inefficient and of limited effectiveness and costly and expensive to operate but they are of little adaptability and versatility and otherwise leave much to be desired.